Question
Three: Evil is all around us in this world.How
can Christians portray evil , or present evil characters on stage and remain true
servants of God?

One
of the more difficult, sticky issues with which every theatre company must deal
is that of the presentation of both evil, and socially-restricted activities or
themes in the theatre.Every production company faces
choices regarding the community it serves and what it feel its audiences will
accept on stage.This is a ponderable issue for our
own University Theatre program for several reasons, not the least of which are
specific prohibitions against certain "worldly" lifestyle activities on the Seattle
Pacific campus.The issues are not new, and will not
go away, so we need to deal with them thoughtfully.

Why
portray evil, or present evil characters on-stage?Perhaps
one reason is found in Aristotle's definition of theatre: "men in action imitating
men in action" combined with Shakespeare's "holding the mirror up to nature,"
and Hamlet's goal of "catching the con­science of the king."To be truthful to revealing the brokenness of our world the
theatre must hold up the mirror of its plays to the world it seeks
to imitate.Evil, by this abstracted artistic
process is thereby unmasked and can be seen for its true self.Hypocrisy and pretension are shown their true faces.Evil's consequences can be revealed as real consequences, and the theatre
can speak with its prophetic voice to a complacent or self-indul­gent world.

Why
portray evil, or present evil characters on stage?Because
the theatre can provide a reminder of the insidiousness of evil. It
can incarnationally reveal truly evil charac­ters, or portray characters who
are an ambiguous mixture of good intentions and evil actions, creating instructive
and striking portrayals that speak truthfully about the human condition.These allegorical reminders are important in showing us the way we all
too often are and the dangers we must struggle to avoid!

Why
portray evil, or present evil characters on-stage?Perhaps
in a similar vein to the above response, we need to present evil on-stage
to be true to the Biblical witness.The Bible
does not shy away from presenting evil characters.They
are often realistically-drawn complex characters, not shown merely in black and
white caricature.Ironically, these Biblical characters
themselves often give way to evil, breaking laws of God and humanity in shameful
ways, and not always do they seek forgiveness.Yet
the scriptures do not flinch from observing them closely, attempting to extract
its meanings from their interplay of actions, however unacceptable they may be.Why cannot the theatre pursue the same ends?

When
considering what plays to present in our University Theatre season we ask some
of the same questions any Christian should rightly ask when accepting a role.Is this play appropriate to my witness?Is
this character made dimensional and understandable?Are
the actions and themes of the play developed as morally significant within the
plot’s given circumstances?Every artist who
is a Christian working in the theatre must approach each play, each character,
each action with care.At all times individual actors
need to ask whether he or she can undertake to portray an "evil" character in
the context of a given play and have the legitimate possibility of providing a
plausibly truthful performance.

The
following are a very few questions one might ask in such situations:

•
What is the purpose of the script?

•
Is the purpose of the script to speak a prophetic word to our broken world?

•
Does the script raise questions about where we are headed if we continue as we
seem to be doing?

•
What is the purpose of this character?

•
How does this character function in the play?

•
Is this evil character meant to be emulated/admired, or judged/questioned?

•
Is he/she a truthfully drawn character?

•
Is the "evil" necessary or gratuitous in the context of the play?

•
Is the language and/or actions spoken or done by this character "necessary?"

•
Are they "necessary" for the honest rendering of the character?

•
What could be modified without "losing" the core of the character?

•
How would that language/action be "read" or understood by our audience?

•
How would the audience respond to that play/action/language?

How
clearly these questions can be answered, and the complexity of thoughts the answers
suggest, will provide a measurement of the script’s artistic strength and
its honesty.This will be, at least, a starting point
for your struggle of conscience.Obviously,
every Christian performer must come to a personal decision regarding what his
or her belief structure will admit.Prayerful consideration
is mandatory.